#kuiespring2018

Severe Air Pollution in South Korea

A social issue which concerns me isthe seriousness of air pollution in South Korea. It is pretty common that people living in South Korea feel hard to breathe, wear masks and hesitate to go outside because of the fine dust. Just a few years ago, the air quality was fine, but nowadays, the air quality is ‘bad’ or ‘danger’ in a half of a week. Fine dust causes severe diseases such as celebral stroke, chronic lung disease and lung cancer as Harvard students write in their research. In addition, High fine dust levels have been found to increase the risk of angina,according to the new study. There are domestic and external factors causing fine dust in South Korea. China has the most serious air quality in the world. In Shandong region, it is abundant of coal so there are hundreds of power plants and factories. As a result, the fine dust including heavy metals is flown into South Korea. Many people think these serious air quality problems are mostly due to China. However, according toHankyoreh, the cause of fine dust is more than a half due to domestic pollution and the rest to External factors. I agree that the government should focus on the domestic factors to solve it. First, Government should reduce the amount of coal-fired power plants and replace them with eco-friendly ones. Secondly, proper regulation of car purchasing and using is necessary.Encouraging people to use public transport is important as well.